Genuinely boring/calm book to read when I wake up in the middle of the night and need something to do without getting hooked.

[u/sinnetbs]

Insomniac needs something boring to read in the middle of the night that's not too stimulating but better than my refrigerator manual. NOT a page turner.

Simple storyline. Not typically into romance or sci Fi but I'll read whatever.

Non fiction is ok too.

I've also tried boring story podcasts which can be helpful but would like another option.

[u/suggestmeabook-ModTeam]

OP has received many wonderful recs! Thank you to everyone for those!

We are locking the comments as they are becoming overly repetitive and many are overly impacting our moderation queue (with non relevant posts/posts that break our rule/from spam accounts.)

OP, feel free to ask again in the future (with more specifics) if you feel like you need more options for your request. :)

EVERYONE: please note, we are not here for podcast recs, or other forms of media other than books. There are subs for that: r/suggestmeapodcast, r/podcasts, etc.

[u/Linison]

I tend toward essays and short stories when I’m having an insomnia night. There’s a natural and firm end, they usually only take 10-15 minutes to read one, and even if it is hooky, it’s over quickly so I don’t “one more chapter” myself until daylight.

[u/sinnetbs → u/Linison]

Good call, thanks! Any in particular you'd recommend?

[u/Linison → u/sinnetbs]

I love Bill Bryson and Mary Roach for my nonfiction.

I am a speculative fiction fan and have enjoyed Friday Black and Never Whistle at Night for short story anthologies

[u/warningdove → u/sinnetbs]

Buried Deep by Naomi Novik is a nice compendium of fantasy short stories

[u/jlgra → u/sinnetbs]

Annie Dillard

[u/GSDBUZZ]

I actually go with a very well written book that I have already read. That way it grabs my attention (because it is so well written) but I don’t mind falling asleep because I already know the outcome. My go to is Pride and Prejudice, but yours could be anything.

[u/loric21 → u/GSDBUZZ]

Persuasion is mine. Something about Karen Savage's narration, particularly chapter 13, helps me drift off

[u/swedishboiledpotatos → u/GSDBUZZ]

Same, mine is A Gentleman in Moscow

[u/Round-Sense7935]

I can share the link to my dissertation. It’s 239 pages and you’ll probably be back to sleep by page four.

[u/Working-Warning8130]

Moby-Dick, or The Whale by Herman Melville.

Wind, Sand and Stars, Night Flight, Wisdom of the Sands : All by Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Stefan Zweig's biographies and essays.

These all are exceptional literature pieces but calm and boring and kind of mesmerizing.

[u/We_Four → u/Working-Warning8130]

Ooooh good call on Saint-Exupéry. Beautiful writing that reads like a meditation. 

[u/Perfect-Librarian895 → u/We_Four]

Speaking of which, Meditations by Marcus Aurelius or the Iliad work for me.

[u/Fearcutsdeeper → u/Working-Warning8130]

A Short History of Everything

[u/tigerbrockbank → u/Fearcutsdeeper]

I've been listening to this on audio and it makes me fall asleep. Except for the part when they got to diving bells!

[u/NotSenpai104 → u/Working-Warning8130]

I recommended The Eustace Diamonds by Anthony Trollope to someone in a similar case.

Classic, highly regarded author; dishy with a lot of build up and tension around the same situation, so a reader could pick it back up without needing to remember exactly what they read last.

Vanity Fair could also work, along these same lines.

[u/Select-Pie6558 → u/Working-Warning8130]

Came here to suggest Moby Dick. That book puts me to sleep like no other.

[u/Bright-Credit6466 → u/Working-Warning8130]

Second Wind, Stars

[u/maerlyn8]

How about some poetry? Shorter and rhythmic like a lullaby (and maybe boring, depending on who you pick and what your poetry tolerance is).

[u/lazulioli]

My go to for this is not so much boring as dense. Stuff that is hard to follow when you're not wide awake, with a plot that unfolds slowly if at all. Bad example because I haven't actually read it, but the first little bit of The Overstory had this vibe for me (which is why I never read most of it lol).

[u/MillersSmokehouse → u/lazulioli]

I also found the first section of The Overstory slow, but be warned that it picks up massively after the character introductions-like can’t put it down, it’s one of the best books I’ve read, picks up. So it’s use as a soporific is limited.

[u/GSDBUZZ → u/MillersSmokehouse]

Read it a while ago but I remember this book being almost painful to read. Yet I was very glad that I had read it when I did finish it and I still think of it fairly often.

[u/InsectCandid8580]

What I listen to, in 5-10 minute bites when I’m going to sleep, is Finnegans Wake. I just let it flow over me, I don’t try to figure it out. Barry McGovern nails the pronunciation and really catches the rhythm and musicality of the prose. Joyce in general, but particularly in Finnegans Wake, is written to be heard as much as read. The dream state of the book sends me off to sleep nicely.

[u/ctoncc]

The Power Broker by Robert Caro. I'm not knocking the book, I enjoyed it. But it's long and about Robert Moses, who was in charge of - well, too much, regarding the urban planning of New York City during the early to mid 1900s.

[u/cquietgigi]

Nothing Much Happens by Kathryn Nicolai

She also has a few podcasts. They're specifically for calming down time.

[u/Retiredandsohappy → u/cquietgigi]

Agree! And she’s got a great, calming voice

[u/ThePenIsMighti3r]

All Creatures Great and Small

[u/sajtospogi85 → u/ThePenIsMighti3r]

Oh, for me that IS a page turner 😃

[u/Pnkrkg6644 → u/sajtospogi85]

Yeah - I loved that book and would have stayed up reading it

[u/jaanku]

The Ruin of All Witches. It’s not scary. It’s an historical account of the city of Springfield, MA and dealing with the with accusations of the city in the mid 17th century.

[u/GloomyMondayZeke]

P
R
O
U
S
T

[u/FormalDinner7 → u/GloomyMondayZeke]

I read the first two books of In Search of Lost Time a lot at bedtime because his sentences are so dreamy that before I knew it they would lull me to sleep. Starting with book 3 not so much, because the plot goes BONKERS but those first two were such nice ways to end my day.

[u/ABorrowerandaLenderB → u/GloomyMondayZeke]

Medicinal

[u/TheGoldenKrogan]

A Psalm for the Wild Built by Becky Chambers could be good. It's a very pleasant, agreeable world in which very pleasant, low-stakes adventures are had.

[u/Chemical-Mix-6206 → u/TheGoldenKrogan]

No shouting, just pleasant words. I love listening to that on a timer at night. Drift right off.

[u/MermaidBeast]

Invisible women - exposing data bias in a world designed by men by Caroline Criado Perez. It is interesting but not a page turner. Reads like an essay. Lots of statistics. Non fiction.

[u/We_Four → u/MermaidBeast]

Infuriating though which could be detrimental to going back to sleep. 

[u/jaezemba]

For this purpose, I loved "Olympic Titanic Britannic: the Anatomy and Evolution of the Olympic Class" by Simon Mills. I listened to the audio book, which sounded like a soothing Attenborough documentary about the construction of pencils. There were chapters discussing how many rivets went into some part of a ship that I couldn't identify. Other chapters might be too interesting, like the chapter about the Titanic sinking (though that's also extremely clinical) or its sister ship being used as a hospital in war (which is an interesting fact I didn't know before), but at no point did I feel like I needed Just One More Chapter.

[u/EasternWeather3639]

For insomnia? A manual of basic German grammar. Works miracles.

[u/I_eat_books99]

The Summer Book by Tove Jansson. It's a quiet little book about a grandma and granddaughter on an island off of Finland. Vignette-style story where not much happens but still fills you with a warm, nostalgic feeling for summer adventures and a sweet grandparent-grandchild relationship

[u/Naasade]

As much as I appreciate and respect Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond and The Hero With a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell, both of those books hit me harder than general anesthesia. Either you will calmly learn from leaders in their respective fields how biology, technology, geography, myth, and storytelling have shaped human society… or you will be asleep within 3 pages.

[u/dayton462016]

The Art if Fielding took me months to get through, you could try that

[u/LilyBriscoeBot]

I’d go with long classics that are too much for your brain when you get tired. I’m talking like Proust, Woolf, Dumas, Tolstoy, George Eliot… if you don’t fall back asleep, at least you’ll be well read.

[u/Ziiiiik]

The Bible. Any part except Revelations since that was the only book in it I remember enjoying reading.

(I got a warning when typing this, but I find the bible genuinely boring and OP is asking for a genuinely boring book. If that’s judgey then all other recommendations in this thread should also get removed.)

[u/jaezemba → u/Ziiiiik]

I got a similar warning, but as a person who read every word cover to cover, I'll go ahead and add here that the book of Numbers is literally a list of numbers. Not the whole thing, but several chapters are literally two different census results counting people.

[u/moosalamoo_rnnr → u/jaezemba]

All the Old Testament genealogical stuff… “X, the son of Y, the son of Z, the son of A, the son of B…”and so on for ten pages.

[u/SnarkyMonkee]

i recently enjoyed “raising hare” by chloe dalton when i had sleepless nights. her descriptions of hares and learning to care for them were strangely soothing. if you like animals at all, this book was a lovely find and a gentle read in the small hours of the morning 

[u/AcanthaceaeNeither13]

If you’re struggling with insomnia read NATTO by Daniel Erickson. Because if you truly having insomnia doing the conventional “don’t read anything too stimulating” is called a “sleep effort” that means that your trying to get back to bed, which means your trying to sleep, which means your upset about being awake which continues the cycle of insomnia.

Instead your suppose to do the opposite and do something engaging and fun. Because then your brain feels calm as a result and you’re no longer interested in going back to sleep, which paradoxically will cause you to get tired and fall asleep. lol! 😂 it’s stupid but it’s true.

[u/Key-Map1883]

Anne Lamott is not boring at all, but she has some essay-type writings that are very soothing. Or if you are into medical or public health issues, Atul Gawande has some great stuff. Check one of these authors’ books out of the library and see if you like it.

[u/ImportantSir2131]

Shipwrecks of the Americas by Robert Marx. A chronological listing by year and area. Ship's name, type of ship, cargo, outcome in a few sentences. A couple of pages, and you drift off.

[u/Tennis_Nut247]

Personally I can 100% vouch for an economics textbook. Anything will be suitable but monetary economics will have you nodding off very fast

[u/SquashCat56]

I have fallen asleep to the first ten pages of Twilight more times than I can count. Always start from the beginning. Highly recommend.

[u/Mydogiswhiskey]

Salt a world history

[u/playhookie]

I reread comfort books. My favourite is the crystal singer series by Anne McCaffrey. Also any of her brain ship series. Mercedes Lackey as well is very gentle sci fi.

[u/fredditmakingmegeta]

Under the Tuscan Sun. It would put me out every two pages. Vague memories of someone talking a lot about working on a house and cooking. That was the whole book.

[u/HarkHarley]

I actually love nonfiction for this reason.

Consider historical biographies like Ordeal by Hunger: The Story of the Donner Party

Consider science-y type reads like The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs: A New History of a Lost World

Or consider more modern crime like Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup

[u/Emergency_Channel876]

Any book by Thích Nhất Hạnh, Peace In Every Step is a good one - or poetry - for instance, Mary Oliver. Sometimes a short funny essay…David Sedaris or the collected Moth stories.

[u/sourdoughvoid]

this is happiness by Niall williams. it's about an Irish village in the 1950s on the cusp of modernization. it kind of feels like it's being told by uncle colm from Derry girls. slow paced, gentle, and I found it kinda boring.

[u/Greencheek_conure]

Just finished animal vegetable miracle which is a nonfiction about a woman who decides her family is going to eat only what they can grow in their yard or from her neighbors for a year. Very relaxing and entertaining.

[u/littleseaotter]

I genuinely like this book, but The Peregrine by JA Baker would be great for this. A man goes out every day watching a pair of peregrine falcons and just documents their daily comings and goings and what they do.

[u/suedaisy]

I got the perfect book for you! The Diary of a Bookseller.

Not a page turner, no drama, just a diary of a book seller in Scotland.

[u/NailFin]

Stoner

[u/NotSoEasy714]

Pretty much any Grisham novel since the year 2000.

[u/No-Weakness-8063]

I read a lot my nighttime books are chosen for calm don’t care vibes but I found I couldn’t read dross either. I started to choose books that had good scenery and were well written but not so exciting I couldn’t put them down. Read all the cadfael books by Ellis peters, probably couldn’t tell you much about the story lines but can describe what Shrewsbury was like in 12th century!

[u/AuntieLaLa420]

Mine is Project Hail Mary, by now it's like an old friend. No matter where it starts I'm out within an hour.

[u/CordeliaTheRedQueen]

YMMV but look for something narrated by John Lee. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society was a recent fave. It’s not all John Lee but he’s in it

[u/boggycakes]

A CPR certification manual is great for that. You also get the added benefit of learning how to save someone’s life. I was certified for a decade and that book never failed to put me to sleep.

[u/portraithouseart]

First of all, KUDOS to you for not using your phone for this. For a book rec, Moby Dick is actually an excellent book but with so many parts that allow you to drift away and not focus on the story. I find that 19th century books in general use the english language in such a way that it requires focus to understand and you wouldn't regret or feel like you wasted your time because they can be so good, but also I can see someone zoning out who is trying to fall back asleep.

[u/afternoonlights]

For my accounting masters I had to read Main Street and Wall Street by William Z Ripley.

It’s about the corruption of corporations in the early 20th century and a call for more transparency. It was the most interesting thing I read for my masters… because it was an accounting masters lol

[u/Fragrant-Ad3479]

Also, there are bunches of books about how the universe/planet/human evolved. As long as there is no soundtrack behind.

[u/Anonymal12748]

I am also an insomniac. I can recommend you audiobooks, you can listen to the story's while still laying in bed in the dark. As you probably know, any light at that time won't help you to fall asleep again. You can even pick a boring/calm audiobook. I recommend Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari

[u/JoyKil01]

"What Mad Pursuit: A Personal View of Scientific Discovery" a 1988 memoir by Nobel laureate Francis Crick.

I’m into both physics and genetics and every time I tried to read this, I would fall asleep in 2 pages.

[u/ObsessiveTeaDrinker]

A Gentleman in Moscow is good for that. You're invested and it's long with lots of descriptions and sitting around.

[u/the_ballmer_peak]

A Gentleman in Moscow.

Good character, great setting, good story, wonderfully written. The story is long and punctuated by only a handful of really meaningful events.

[u/great_tphon]

I use long, boring history books for this exact purpose. "The New Roman Empire" by Anthony Kaldellis was perfect--a fresh take on a civilisation that is widely misunderstood in the West, mildly interesting, but also kind of repetitive. It's essentially lots of little stories strung together, too, so you can easily put it down whenever.

[u/Bright-Credit6466]

Also enjoy PG Wodehouse, its funny but soothing and style of writing is excellent.

EB white cd also work

[u/cucumber_anxiety]

Unpopular opinion but Tom Lake was one of the most boring books I’ve ever read 🤣 that thing would always put me to sleep

[u/Outside-Computer-341]

There is actually an old book our there called The greatest thing since sliced bread. No lie! It seemed so boring I never read it 😆

[u/Karm0112]

Sourdough by Robin Sloan. It is a quirky and cute book, but not a page turner.

[u/desertboots]

I reread non fiction. I like Simon Winchester.

[u/Sirius_Giggles]

The rise and Fall of Ancient Egypt by Toby Wilkerson. If you like history. I regularly put the audiobook on to help me fall asleep at times.

[u/hokkuhokku]

The dictionary. I’m not kidding.

[u/Ziiiiik]

Oh, also. Solaris by Lem Stanislaw. (Sorry [r/printS](r/printScifi)[F)](r/printScifi)

Fucking boring ass sci fi book. Like the premise is pretty interesting, but there are chapters that just drone on and on about the bureaucratic history of their expedition or chapters on descriptions on the planet’s landscape.

[u/b0neappleteeth]

I’m reading the Miss Read series at the moment. It’s uneventful and very calm and relaxing. Would probably be good for something like this.  

[u/BewilderedandAngry → u/b0neappleteeth]

Miss Read or D.E. Stevenson.

[u/suggestmeabook-ModTeam → u/[deleted]]

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Good luck!

[u/bostonbomber198]

I read cookbooks

[u/suggestmeabook-ModTeam → u/[deleted]]

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[u/suggestmeabook-ModTeam → u/[deleted]]

This has been removed under sub rule #1 - post doesn't ask for book suggestions OR your comment does not recommend a book (possibly it also breaks rule 2, and also considered a book discussion/low effort.

For general book discussions, check out /r/books or share your thoughts on /r/readingsuggestions or r/ireadabookandadoredit

Good luck!

[u/Ok_Caterpillar_3535]

Harry Potter or LOTRs, especially if you’ve read it before. Familiar and wholesome

[u/Itchy_Undertow-1]

Phoebe Reads a Mystery has Pride and Prejudice atm, which I've already read so no worries about missing anything, and her voice is very soothing.

[u/Vintage_Journal]

Swann's Way - Proust. It's light on plot, beautiful descriptions, and I think could help you get back to sleep. It's pleasant to read a couple pages at a time. 

[u/magusbud]

A big dictionary or thesaurus.

[u/PanickedPoodle]

I listened to a book simply called Florence while on vacation. It was instant snooze. Find a historical travel book. 

[u/IsaBella-trix]

I'd say lotr

[u/No_Raccoon_8013]

Anything by Nietzsche

[u/GuruNihilo]

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance kept putting me to sleep.

[u/ode-to-tiny-cucumber]

I use Bill Bryson's books for exactly that purpose! They're entertaining despite being non fiction but not "exciting" 

[u/dreamyraynbo]

I usually go for self-help/philosophy stuff for late reading that I want to be useful but not exciting. Some of my personal favorites have been Tea and Cake with Demons: A Buddhist Guide to Feeling Worthy and Living Beautifully: With Uncertainty and Change.

[u/Character_Ad5286]

Anything by Bill Bryson.

[u/Content-Warning-386]

I use The unselected journals of Emma M Lion for getting asleep (or lying awake without being too bored). It's easy and cute, small things happening, but not tense or stimulating.

[u/curiouskg100]

The Corner That Held Them by Sylvia Townsend Warner - nuns in a convent, relatively plotless yet enjoyable, without being a page turner

[u/flordofthedance]

There is a book called ‘Nothing Much Happens’ that is written for this exact purpose! I believe they also have a podcast.

[u/MaggieDogPuppyButt]

On the Calculation of Volume by Solvej Balle

[u/Upper_Economist7611]

Haha- my doctor actually recommended my refrigerator manual!

I find that simple classics work for me. Anne of Green Gables, that kind of thing.

[u/BeeVee9515]

I read instructional cookbooks when I can’t sleep (ex: The Food Lab or Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat)

[u/Blecher_onthe_Hudson]

The Golden Age of the Solar Clipper series by Nathan Lowell is "cozycore" sci fi,, everyone is very nice, professional, and tries very hard. The protagonist is an 18-year-old who signs on board a space freighter as a mess attendant with his only skills being making great coffee, taking standardized tests well, and having genius level EQ. The OG series follows his rise to Captain and ship owner over a couple of decades and six books. There really isn't any conflict until the fourth book in the series! And even then he battles nastiness with niceness. There's now several sequel and parallel series as well. The audio version is great relaxing bedtime listening, it was originally a podcast series.

[u/vexedvi]

Titus Groan or Gormenghast. I love them but they have the least plot of any book I have ever read. It's mostly sublimely written description

[u/Hcmp1980]

I read some heavy physics books. Actually learnt stuff too.

[u/slodojo]

pick up one of those huge biographies. maybe Grant by Chernow. Its good, but it will get you back to sleep

[u/jedeirri]

I usually go for audio books of things that are good vibes and low stakes and things I've already read. Two good examples are Howls Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones and The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien. They're both very episodic as well

[u/pandapants92]

The Dalergut Dream Department Store is a translated story about the department store/world we buy our dreams from when we’re asleep. It was super low stakes.

[u/ladyrose30]

I like poetry, John Donne's Meditation XVII (...for whom the bells tolls...) always calms me down. There is something about the cadence of his words.

[u/AlienDickProbe]

I would try East of Eden. Great book but can easily be put down and picked up again.

[u/Weavingknitter]

I look up fairly interesting things on my laptop and then "send to kindle" and now I have a collection of articles to read but they don't exactly have a plot so I can read a couple, get into that zone state, and drift off to sleep

[u/Nilla22]

A Witch's Guide to Magical Innkeeping Sangu Mandanna

[u/SamSpayedPI]

I reread (or listen to audiobooks of) children's books I've read a million times when I was a kid.

They're comforting, and you know them so well that they don't keep you awake to see what happens next.

Well actually, you do need to choose wisely. I'm asleep before the end of the first chapter of "The Wind in the Willows" or "Winnie the Pooh," but can be kept up for hours finishing "The 101 Dalmatians."

Definitely avoid "The 101 Dalmatians" (Dodie Smith).

[u/wednesdayware]

Moby Dick. Long, dull, endless.

[u/Lezzy_Lammy]

I found The Sun Also Rises to be a calm book. A lot of it deals with city life and eating a restaurants and going out in nature.

[u/Salcha_00]

The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating by Elisabeth Tova Bailey

Also, any poetry by Mary Oliver.

[u/AliCracker]

I tend to go with massive series like A song of Fire and Ice, Game of Thrones, Lord of the Rings etc

You know you have a LONG way to go so don’t feel the need to rush

Captivating singular novels have been the death of many nights sleep haha!

[u/International-Cat316]

Home by Toni Morrison

I'm currently listening to the audibook and her voice puts me to sleep on the bus

[u/lcapictures]

I’m reading Tom Lake by Ann Patchett right now and I feel this is in the category you are looking for. I’m near the end and only now is there a bit of tension in the book. But almost the whole thing is very calm and lovely, to the point where I was almost frustrated with the lack of any tension at all?

But it’s well written enough to have me still wanting to find out what happens. But I’ve never like….. stayed up late, hooked and not wanting to put it down.

I read Commonwealth by Patchett (which was a page turner) and loved it. Tom Lake is not the same vibe at all. The book cover is quite reflective of the vibe.

[u/ReddisaurusRex]

Cozy mysteries are my go to before bed. It’s the cozy element, not the actual mysteries that I enjoy usually. Ellie Alexander’s Bakeshop mysteries are my fave for modern ones. Any Agatha Christie for older ones (or The Cat Who series.)

[u/Ashelburn]

Some children book like Alice in Wonderland or Hobbit. Or choose a textbook or The Art of War. Will definitely put you down

[u/pretty_panda7463]

I used What You’re Looking for is in the Library by Michiko Aoyama for a similar purpose for a while.

[u/toodleloomf]

Not boring necessarily, but a collection of short essays by Ross Gay called the Book of Delights is lovely and easy to read as well as pick up and put down

[u/suggestmeabook-ModTeam → u/[deleted]]

This has been removed under sub rule #1 - your comment does not recommend a book. Please review our full rules for further details.

Good luck!

[u/Pnkrkg6644]

I used nabakov’s Pale Fire for this and it worked excellently

[u/Hilda_Sivan]

I go with non-fiction light academic books of my interest field, sometimes history topics or linguistics

[u/EmotionalPizza6432]

Tender at the Bone by Ruth Reichl.

[u/SyntaxEditor]

Alexander McCall Smith’s 44 Scotland Street series

[u/Disastrous-Soup-5413]

If you’ve read them before or have seen the TV shows it’s super easy to fall asleep to them I think, Agatha Christie’s Poirot or Miss. Marple.

[u/LazHuffy]

The Codebreakers by David Kahn — interesting comprehensive history of cryptography that I would always fall asleep reading

[u/Puli_T]

The Scarlet Letter

[u/WingsOfTin]

A dictionary.

[u/Interesting-Mixtape]

Anything by Robert McFarlane. I’m reading The Old Ways now and love it. He’s a naturalist I guess.

[u/warningdove]

I’ll be honest, I KNOW they’re great stories but the OG Sherlock Holmes makes me sleepy and relaxed 😊

[u/Aggravating_Unit3975]

This isn’t a bad book, it’s just that it’s so peaceful I rarely keep my eyes open no matter what time of day I’m trying to read it. It’s The Story of a Soul by St. Therese of Lisieux.

[u/GortLovesYou]

Jokes and Their Relation to the Unconscious by Sigmund Freud. Spoiler, it's not very funny.

[u/notoriousshasha]

I like the historical novels by Edward Rutherford. They're very long (the audio books are 30-40 hours) and interesting but dont require a lot of investment.

[u/jlgra]

I can’t do reading at all, but the NYT games spelling bee is my soporific.

[u/Upbeat_Conference522]

Theo of Golden

[u/urcrazyifurnormal]

God. This.

Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry

Sweet dreams. ✌🏽

[u/dm21120]

My business law text book always put me to sleep in the middle of the day….

[u/SeriousRequirement14]

I listen to my Bible app

[u/cynrtst]

NPR’s I Thought My Father Was God. Short stories that are thought-provoking. Pretty cool.

Time and the Riddle, by Howard Fast. Also short stories, that are Zen-oriented. $1.99 on Kindle.

[u/DarlingYancy]

I have a few go to books. I need to have a particular tone of a male's voice, one that doesn't get too excited as they narrate. I've listened to these books so many times that I can enjoy a small bit and then easily fall back asleep.

• All Creatures Great and Small and All Things Bright and Beautiful - James Herriot - narrated by Nicholas Ralph (the actor who plays James Herriot in the current show airing on PBS.) A very calming and sweet book. The chapters are short and each is telling a new story of his life.
• A Very Punchable Face - Colin Jost - another book with chapters you can read out of order, this one is pretty funny so that may not be great for some who just want to fall back asleep.
• Project Hail Mary - Andy Weir - I wake up and say to myself..."awww this is when he meets Rocky!"
• Alexander Hamilton - Ron Chernow
• My Southern Journey - Rick Bragg - a collection of the authors essays about life in the country. Great southern drawl that reminds me of my family.
• The Scottish Fairy Book - Elizabeth W Grierson, narrated by Steven Cree (love a nice Scottish accent)
• The Beatrix Potter Collection narrated by Andrew Scott. How can you go wrong with falling asleep to that voice??
• The Poetry of Scotland - narrated by Alan Cumming and others (clearly I love Scottish accents)

[u/suzylovesvanilla]

An old school, algebra textbook😆

[u/Snoo17348]

Sleep stories! There are many free ones online. I listen to Sleepy Bookshelf on Spotify. Set the timer and put your phone under your pillow.

[u/Fragrant-Ad3479]

‘A man called Ove’
I really liked the book, but the rhythm of the writing is very good for falling to sleep.